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The bug out bag is a very important kit for survivalists. Maybe the zombies have attacked, maybe the communists are invading, maybe society has finally collapsed. I say this somewhat jokingly, but disasters really can happen. If you have to leave for any reason your bug out bag is the core of your survival kit. It's supposed to contain enough supplies to last you for about 3 days.

I like to repeat and emphasize this point. The bug out bag is meant to last you for 3 days. If you are traveling with others they should hopefully have their own kits as well. You can get by sharing tools if you need to and even medical supplies, but food and water are the things you are definitely going to need a lot more of if you have multiple people with you. They can carry their own gear too so if you have plenty of supplies it can be beneficial to have multiple people with you. If you have to do any work the more hands working the less work has to be done per person.

Different people have different ideals for supplies for emergencies. One of my friends has survival equipment in 3 categories. Stage one is house survival where you can just hold up in your house and ideally have enough supplies to last a month. Stage two is car survival. Should you have to leave your house you can still (hopefully) live out of your car and since your car can hold quite a bit of supplies you can hopefully hold enough supplies for a week. Stage three is your bug out bag. If you have to just grab your gear and just go you need about 3 days of supplies. The idea here is to have a destination in mind and your bug out bag is supposed to last you long enough to get from point A to point B.

What you put in you bug out bag is entirely up to you. Just remember this is a kit you are supposed to carry on your back as you walk. There's always the saying that it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. This is true, but try to use some common sense here. You probably won't need a hair dryer or a tv. Try to limit yourself to reasonable stuff of reasonable weight because if you have to carry 50+ lb of gear a long ways that will be pretty tiring.

The core of your bug out bag is a good backpack. A tiny backpack with hardly any capacity will also limit what you can carry. Keep that in mind. Many backpacks come with a water bladder so you can carry more water. That can be helpful. Even if a backpack doesn't come with a bladder you can pick one up for less than $20 and many backpacks without the bladder have a clip on a shoulder strap where you can hook the drinking hose for your bladder.

When packing my gear I like to keep my stuff in zip lock bags. If I am carrying liquids it helps protect the rest of my gear from getting wet if something leaks. If my backpack gets soaked for some reason that also keeps the stuff in the bags dry. Keeping extra bags to store water or just whatever is good too.

The following links include guides for things worth including in your bug out bag.
Water
Food
Weapons
Fire
First Aid
Shelter (work in progress)
Clothes (work in progress)
Tools (work in progress)
Hygeine and sanitation


Survival Tips (Work in progress)
This one is more geared around what to do rather than what to carry.